Bowie Restaurant Project: (69) Carolyn Quinn's

Carolyn Quinn's is now closed.

Carolyn Quinn's Menu

For an explanation of the Bowie Restaurant Project, look here.


For a list of all the Bowie Restaurant Project reviews, look here.

Carolyn Quinn's, 3872 Town Center Blvd.
Most Recent Foursquare Check-in: 7/8/2013
Total Foursquare Check-ins: 2
Pre-Foursquare Visits: No
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Finally, a reason to visit the food court! Carolyn Quinn's offers homestyle dishes like baked chicken, mac 'n' cheese and cornbread. I am not generally a fan of fried food, but I really enjoyed their fried tilapia.

Co-workers I dined with felt that the food was honest and uncomplicated. Don't go expecting a lot of fancy spices.

The first time I went there, the co-owner and his daughter were there. He said he (Quinn) and his wife (Carolyn) had combined their name to get the name of the restaurant, and that the food that they were serving comes from family recipes. That's telling -- the food is what you'd expect of a home-cooked meal if you visited a friend's house who was a good cook.

He said that he had initially intended a "soft opening" before doing much promotion, but that things had been busy from the start. One promotion you may want to participate in is texting "feedme" to 81680. If you do it before you go to Carolyn Quinn's, you get a coupon good for 10% off a meal that day. If you do it after you visit, as I did, that coupon doesn't do you much good, and when you try to use it again, it says you've already gotten your coupon. I think I am supposed to get more coupons eventually, but so far I haven't gotten any.

Anyway, not only is it head and shoulders above any other place in the food court, I feel like it starts out in the top tier of Bowie restaurants. Since you're in the food court, the atmosphere isn't top-notch, and you're not going to find anything that stuns your palate. But the food will be very good, and there's not much else like it in the local area.

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Bowie Restaurant News

Progress is being made on a couple of other new establishments. The Olive Grove is doing major exterior work on the exterior of the old Outback, and Anthony's Pizza and Pasta has a "Coming Soon" sign and has gotten started on an interior remodel of the old Peepers space.

Bowie Restaurant Project: (BB4) Nautilus Diner

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For a list of all the Bowie Restaurant Project reviews, look here.

Nautilus Diner, 1709 Transportation Dr., Crofton
Most Recent Foursquare Check-in: 3/24/2013
Total Foursquare Check-ins: 6
Pre-Foursquare Visits: Yes
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Bowie needs a diner. The "Beyond Bowie" series is designed to spotlight restaurants that Bowie "should have, but doesn't." A city of 54,727 people (2010 census figure) should have a diner. But it doesn't. It has an IHOP, but that's not the same thing.

Until then, we'll have to continue to head up Route 3 to Nautilus Diner in Crofton. They have everything you'd want in a diner: a novel-length menu, breakfast anytime, Greek specialities (it doesn't have to be Greek, but a diner should specialize in some sort of ethnic cuisine), late-night hours ('til 1 am), desserts and cocktails. I'm a little disappointed it's not 24 hours (though I've never wanted to go there in the middle of the night myself), and I don't like the Greek food as much as Plato's Diner in College Park, but it's still a solid showing.

The service has generally been pretty good. If it's slow, they've been known to put us with our toddlers in our own section to give them room to wiggle without disturbing other customers.

Geocoin Update: Free State Movers

As I mentioned last summer, one of the geocoins I dropped off abroad with the goal of returning to Maryland made it back near the Sligo Creek Trail. Well, in April, Christina and I left the kids with the sitter, and took a little bike ride down the trail. After some digging through the woods, I emerged with Free State Mover #3, five years and 13,229 miles after I placed it in a cache in Banff, Alberta. In that time, it has been to Sweden, Germany, British Columbia, Washington state, Oregon, Virginia, and then finally back to Maryland. It's currently decorating my biking keychain.

Sadly, the other coins I had dropped off over the years seemed to have vanished. However, in May, Free State Mover #1 (which started off in the UK in 2007) had this note from the user who had last seen it in January 2009:

We originally grabbed this in Florida. While we had it in our possession we lost it. Recently we stumbled upon it and delivered it to a new home in Washington DC.

DC! Great. Almost back to Maryland. But it never got logged into a DC cache. Instead two days later, someone grabbed it with the note:

Found this in Elm Tree #1 in Washington DC and will get it on the road again.

Last week they dropped it off in Massachusetts. Oh, well. At least it's back in the game.

Book Review: Throne of the Crescent Moon

Throne of the Crescent Moon by Saladin Ahmed

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

So, three stars or four stars? It started a bit weakly, but improved. I was leaning towards four stars until I realized that I have little interest in reading the sequel. Just a gut feeling, but enough to knock it down to three.

Let's start with the negative. Sometimes the book seems too...straightforward. One way this is true is where the author tells you something where he could have showed you. An example from early in the book:

"You should not contemn poetry, my friend. There's wisdom in these lines. About life, death, one's own fate."
"No doubt!" Yehyeh aped the act of reading a non-existent book in the air before him, running a finger over the imaginary words and speaking in a grumble that was an imitation of Adoulla's own. "O, how hard it is to be so fat! O, how hard it is to have such a large nose! O Beneficent God, why do the children run a-screaming when I come a-walking?"
Before Adoulla could come up with a rejoinder on the fear Yehyeh's own crossed eyes inspired in children, the teahouse owner limped off, chuckling obscenities to himself.

I thought the paragraph where Yehyeh pretends to read poetry is a nice, subtle characterization -- which is ruined in the next line, which explicitly mentions his ugliness.

Also, at times in the book, the protagonists run into a problem, and then somebody says, "I know somebody who can help," and the next chapter or so involves going to that person for help. It's particularly jarring when the assistance comes from someone who hasn't been mentioned before in the book. Sort of like, "Hey, where does the plot need to go next?"

The positives: it's a richly-imagined "second world" that leans more heavily on Muslim and Arabic traditions than you usually see in a sword-and-sorcery novel. (I learned the term "Second World" recently -- to refer to fantasy not set on Earth, and I feel erudite using it.)

The adventures are entertaining, and by the end of the book, the five protagonists have been more subtly characterized than I initially expected.

All in all, a good book, but not one I fell in love with.

---

Hugo Update

This is the third of the five nominees for Best Novel Hugo that I have read. I liked it more than Redshirts, but not as much as 2312, so I have my ballot partially ranked. I seem unlikely to finish the earlier books in series with the other two nominees (Blackout and Captain Vorpatril's Alliance) before the deadline, so what should I do -- not give consideration to all of the books, or violate my rule of not reading books in series out of order?

For now, I'm sort of ducking the question. When I realized how substantial the nominees for Best Novella are -- one is 192 pages in print, I decided to look there. One advantage to that is that one nominee is part of the Newsflesh series (as is Blackout). It's not entirely fair to judge a book by its prequel, but I am pretty sure I'm not going to like this zombie series, and I at least will probably be OK not giving Blackout a chance if I don't fall in love with the prequel novella.

I will probably have to cave on Captain Vorpatril's Alliance since there are so darn many books in the series that I would have to read to catch up, but the quality of the two I have read is high enough that I should give it a chance for my vote.

Bowie Restaurant Project: (68) Hibachi Bowl

For an explanation of the Bowie Restaurant Project, look here.


For a list of all the Bowie Restaurant Project reviews, look here.

Hibachi Bowl, 3856 Town Center Blvd.
Most Recent Foursquare Check-in: 6/25/2013
Total Foursquare Check-ins: 2
Pre-Foursquare Visits: No
Rating: 0.5 out of 5 stars

I have a rule that I have to visit a restaurant twice before writing a review. It's a bad sign when your lunch companions try to talk you into breaking that rule after your first visit. But if I hadn't, I would have given this place 0 stars, instead of the coveted half-star. One of our complaints was that "Hibachi" implies Japanese grill, and none of the foods on offer for that first visit were remotely Japanese, nor grilled. They advertised "Teriyaki Chicken," but none was in sight.

On my second visit, the guy who operates the grill had shown up, so I had some teriyaki chicken. It wasn't awful. It wasn't good, either. It had nothing to do with an actual hibachi, and there were no bowls in sight.

On my first visit, I was offered toothpick samples of all three types of chicken and immediately dreaded ordering a full portion of any of them. If you go, try the Teriyaki Chicken; it doesn't inspire feelings of dread.

Even the rice didn't taste very good, though. One colleague said that her vegetables somehow managed to be flavorless without being overcooked. The other colleague declined to eat at Hibachi Bowl and went across the street to Five Guys for a hot dog. She was the day's winner.

I don't understand this restaurant's purpose. If you really want bad Asian food, you could just go next door to Asian Chao. But you'd be better off walking across the street to Five Guys for a hot dog.

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Bowie Restaurant News

While making my second visit to Hibachi Bowl, I noticed another restaurant is on its way to joining the food court. "Carolyn Quinns" will apparently feature fresh fish, candied yams, fried chicken, BBQ, macaroni & cheese, turkey wings and collard greens. Some sort of Southern theme? A Google search was fruitless, so I suspect it's not a chain -- there may even be a real "Carolyn Quinn."

New restaurants are breaking out all over. The Olive Grove restaurant will be occupying the space in Hilltop Plaza where Outback used to be before it moved. I gather it's like an Olive Garden.

Also, Bang Bang Mongolian Grille is changing its name and format.  It will be called "Soyomobo." I'm not sure if this will constitute a new restaurant, but I'm leaning towards "yes."

Further, Irie Cafe a few weeks ago posted electrical permits. That's further along than the Muffin Man ever got, so I guess that's a good sign.

Longest Bike Ride Yet

Bettertown/Chestertown Loop at EveryTrail

If things had gone according to plan, this might have been my third-longest bike ride rather than the longest. In September 2009, I biked 29 miles in Switzerland, and in August 2009, I biked 28 miles in and around Santa Barbara. So when I decided to sign up for the 28th Annual Bay to Bay Ride, I chose the 27-mile (shortest) route.

Some background: the Bay to Bay Ride is a charity ride organized by the Chestertown (Maryland) Lions Club. Riders (some of them) ride from the Chesapeake Bay (Betterton, MD) to the Delaware Bay and back. Even the 50-mile ride doesn't get you out of Maryland; that requires 78 miles. For those who want a loop rather than out-and-back, the 86-mile ride take you back through Chestertown, and the 104-mile ride gives you an extra detour if you want to claim a "century" (hundred-mile bike ride).

As I parked a little before 8:00 and started stretching, I noticed that not only did most of the other riders have road bikes, but nobody else sported the type of large saddlebag that I had (most had backpacks). I think that if I do something like this again, I'll try to pack lighter -- rely more on the food stops versus packing my own extra food and water, and maybe replace my U-lock with a cable lock (I didn't even need a lock on this ride, but it's nice to have one just in case).

I headed to registration to pick up a cue sheet (turn-by-turn directions) and my t-shirt. Looking at the cue sheet, I realized another mistake (besides overpacking). I hadn't brought my handy Garmin GPS unit that had accompanied me on my other trips. I figured I would track the trip with my phone, which has some fairly nice GPS features.

Well, 1) I didn't get data service in Betterton, and 2) I don't have a bike mount for my phone, so I can't stare at the "odometer" and know when to turn. (We'll get to #3 later.) But I figured that since the route was marked with arrows, I'd be OK. Unfortunately the green (27-mile) arrows pointed away from all the other arrows, so I didn't have masses of bike riders to reassure me I was headed in the right direction.

The first few miles were a nice ride -- a bit hillier than I expected from the Eastern Shore, though. I was a bit disconcerted when I came to an intersection and encountered some other riders headed the opposite direction from me. On the other hand, they took different paths from there, so clearly some of them were lost, and who was I to say what paths the non-green arrows led people to? I looked down and saw green arrows -- so I had to be headed the right direction.

It was not a good sign, however, when I crested a hill and saw the starting point. Oh. So I had cut back over to the return route and was following those arrows. After a conversation with one of the ride organizers, I realized that I had made a left when I should have made a right. (Hence the five-mile loop at the top of the map.)

From then on, I was able to follow the arrows -- once you know what you're looking for (tiny painted arrows on the pavement at almost every intersection), it's not so bad. But it was somewhat dispiriting to have to start over again knowing that I was now headed towards more than 30 miles of biking.

I retraced my steps, and after 2.5 miles, made the correct turn this time. It was a nice enough ride past farm after farm, and when I got to Still Pond Creek, it seemed like a nice body of water. About 7 miles in (for the rest of the post, when I refer to mileage, it's on the 27-mile route as planned, not counting detours), however, it started to rain.

I had checked the weather on Friday, and no rain was in the forecast. I was worried about the heat, so I wanted to finish before it got too late, but not about the rain. I hadn't packed any rain gear, and my phone didn't really appreciate the rain (disadvantage #3).

Fortunately, Christina had picked out a really snazzy saddlebag for herself -- which unfortunately for her, didn't fit her bike. I inherited it, and it has a snazzy rain cover. So I tucked my phone, my wallet and everything but the cue sheet inside the saddlebag. I was soaked, but my belongings were fine. (I was impressed at how well the phone's GPS continued to track my path.)

As I biked into Chestertown, the rain let up, and I passed various strip malls. I had the feeling driving in that Chestertown had a quaint waterfront, but I didn't end up seeing it. Farther into town, though, I passed Washington College. I was very amused to see signs for "CTY registration." Thirty years ago this summer, I spent the first of four summers at the CTY programs in Pennsylvania, where I studied math, science and other academic pursuits. At the time, there was no Chestertown location, but if there had been, I could have been here!

Fourteen miles into the ride, I was at the turnaround point. I was invited by the cue sheet to take "A Walking Tour of Old Chestertown." What I really wanted was a bite to eat, though, and I saw that a food stop was available at Mile 16.

Food Stop

So I headed back on the return journey, and made a little detour to the food stop, which was in front of an assisted living home. There, I saw a lot more bicyclists than I had the entire trip. So there were other people on the green route. (I think the 86-mile route also passed by here, but it was around 11, and most of those riders had not made it back yet.)

Still Pond

For some reason, I was expecting a more elaborate spread, but there were some bananas, cookies, and the opportunity to refill water bottles. I was pretty happy with those choices, actually. I had overestimated how hungry I'd get and weighted myself down with two boxes of granola bars.

The ride back was nice, though it started to rain again. At the 23 mile point, I passed through the community of Still Pond, which was the first in Maryland to grant women the right to vote. That was one of three historical markers I saw on the ride, but it hadn't been waymarked, so I submitted it.

I made it back to the starting point a little before 1:00, as the clouds started to part and the heat began to bear down. My phone counted it as a 33-mile trip. A little bit of that might have been GPS "jitter", where it thinks I've moved because the reading is off, but looking at that map above, it looks pretty straight.

I'd love to do this again some time, although likely in a different venue. I'm sort of picky about which rides I'll do -- for example, I'm happy to donate a registration fee to charity, but I'm not going to hit friends up to sponsor a ride. I also don't want hills, a long drive to get there (at almost two hours, this one was a bit much) or a ride over 30 miles.

So I've got my eyes set on the Tour du Port in Baltimore in September. The 25-mile ride isn't even the shortest one available, and hopefully I can convince a friend or two to come along.

Book Review: Redshirts

Redshirts: A Novel with Three Codas by John Scalzi

My rating: 2 of 5 stars

It was a struggle to get through this book, though less so as it went along.

The first half of the book comes across as a Star Trek parody, and not a particularly funny one. It's not bad per se; it's just that the observations are on-point without making me laugh. I would have rather read a Galaxy Guest novelization. Wait, there is a Galaxy Quest novelization. I still don't want to read it, although the fact that it's Terry Bisson tempts me a little.

The second half of the book gets a bit meta (a story about the story) in a way that put me off Jasper Fforde's Thursday Next books after the first one. Worse, although the plot got more compelling, I realized as I finished the book that I did not actually care about any of the characters.

Of the Hugo Best Novel nominees, I've only managed to read this and 2312, which is miles ahead of it. I'm working on Throne of the Crescent Moon now. Speaking of 2312...

From my review of 2312:

Aside from my Robinson fan-dom, I read this book to get a head start on next year's Nebula nominees. At this point, I'm not sure it'll quite do well enough to get nominated (it looks like KSR hasn't had a Best Novel nominee since 1995), and I'm not sure if it should. On the other hand, I'm not sure what's out there; I'm looking forward to what the voters come up with.

Congratulations to this year's Nebula winner for Best Novel, 2312. So now, I'm up to 40 out of 49 read.

I have not read any of the other nominees. As part of my reading plan, I started The Killing Moon. The problem is that I fall asleep every time I read it. Since I like sleep almost as much as I like reading, this is not a huge problem for me. Given my lack of enthusiasm for most of the other nominees, I'm pretty happy with 2312 as the winner (especially given how much I like Robinson).

I have now revised my reading plan, since I didn't make it to the other Nebula nominees, and the Hugo packet has been released. Further, the Vorkosigan series omnibus books are not uniformly available for Kindle, so I had to adjust my plans there. (I read Shards of Honor and Barrayar when I was looking for something that wouldn't put me to sleep.)

1. Throne of the Crescent Moon (Nebula and Hugo nominee)
2. The Warrior's Apprentice (in series with Hugo nominee)
3. The Vor Game (in series with Hugo nominee)
4. Cetaganda (in series with Hugo nominee)
5. Ethan of Athos (in series with Hugo nominee)
6. Brothers in Arms (in series with Hugo nominee)
7. Borders of Infinity (in series with Hugo nominee)
8. Mirror Dance (in series with Hugo nominee)
9. Memory (in series with Hugo nominee)
10. Miles in Love (in series with Hugo nominee)
11. Miles, Mutants and Microbes (in series with Hugo nominee)
12. Captain Vorpatril's Alliance (Hugo nominee)
13. Feed (in series with Hugo nominee)
14. Deadline (in series with Hugo nominee)
15. Blackout (Hugo nominee)

And then I'll eventually finish The Killing Moon.

Bowie Restaurant Project: (67) East Moon Asian Bistro

East Moon Asian Bistro

For an explanation of the Bowie Restaurant Project, look here.


For a list of all the Bowie Restaurant Project reviews, look here.

East Moon Asian Bistro, 6107 High Bridge Rd.
Most Recent Foursquare Check-in: 6/9/2013
Total Foursquare Check-ins: 3
Pre-Foursquare Visits: No
Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

East Moon's stylish interior

Somehow Bowie has ended up with three restaurants with "Asian Bistro" in their name. Golden Pavilion Asian Bistro and Ichiban Sushi Asian Bistro are the other two. Having not been to Ichiban since they expanded into an Asian Bistro, I can't yet compare and contrast each of them. But I will say it's tricky to do a review of any of them, since by design they feature a variety of cuisines, which are hard to completely sample in my standard two visits. In addition to one sit-down visit to East Moon and two take-outs, I believe I've had delivery once.

The bottom line is that the mix of cuisines generates a mixed bag, but the best of the food is excellent. My main complaint is that the Thai food -- the only Thai available in Bowie -- is the least spicy Thai food I've ever tasted. Also, if you think because you're having Chinese food, you'll order an egg roll, be aware that you'll end up with a "Vietnamese egg roll," which I don't find nearly as tasty.

That said, their dishes are generally very well-prepared, and the presentation is very nice. The interior decor is head-and-shoulders above what you'd expect from the strip mall interior. The sushi is good, though I've yet to find the definitive area sushi joint. I'd definitely recommend them, with the caveat that your, "Oh, how exciting, they have that" moment may not live up to expectations.

Tuna pizza letdown

Case in point: Christina was amazed to see that they had "tuna pizza" on the menu. We've had a longstanding discussion about the fact that you can get tuna on your pizza anywhere but the United States. Her observation that this is the case has held up very well. I don't think we've ever failed to find it on a trip abroad, and its absence in Puerto Rico was a sure sign we were still in an American territory.

This...was not tuna pizza. It was tasty, but it was some sort of sashimi-on-wonton thing.

So...3.5 stars. It could probably be 4, but the fact that I'm not motivated to drive past Golden Pavilion to get there keeps it at 3.5.

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Bowie Restaurant Update

 Hibachi Bowl is open! Review coming later this month once I make it out there.

The full name of the restaurant coming to Free State is apparently "Anthony's NY Pizza & Pasta House". That means it's probably related to this one in Clarksville. My uncle calls that place, "pretty good, but not outstanding."

A colleague has confirmed my suspicions that Ichiban is the same place as the restaurant the City has listed as "Asian Bistro" next door, so that knocks down my to-do list by one. Here are the remaining restaurants to review and complete this Project.

1. 19th Hole Bar & Gril
2. Anthony’s NY Pizza & Pasta House (not open yet)
3. Carrabba’s
4. Chessie’s
5. Hibachi Bowl
6. Ichiban Sushi Asian Bistro
7. Irie Cafe (not open yet)
8. Jerry’s Seafood
9. Longhorn Steakhouse
10. Penalty Box Cafe
11. Pizza Hut (There are 3; I have visited 2, and will combine the reviews into one post.)
12. Sakura
13. Texas Roadhouse

Bowie Restaurant Project: (66) T.G.I. Friday's

For an explanation of the Bowie Restaurant Project, look here.


For a list of all the Bowie Restaurant Project reviews, look here.

T.G.I. Friday's, 15207 Major Lansdale Blvd.
Most Recent Foursquare Check-in: 5/30/2013
Total Foursquare Check-ins: 1
Pre-Foursquare Visits: Probably
Rating: 2.5 out of 5 stars

It's a T.G.I. Friday's. And just like Applebee's, Chili's and Ruby Tuesday's before it, it earns 2.5 stars. The word "adequate" springs to mind.

Impressively enough, it managed to achieve adequate by a mix of good and bad, rather than across-the-board mediocrity. The service was snappy. I got their "2 for $10" deal, which produced a generous amount of food. The "Spinach Florentine Flatbread" appetizer was surprisingly good. The Jack Daniels Burger came with very tasty fries, which I wasn't expecting...either the fact that I'd get fries or how good they'd be. The burger was...otherwise. I ordered it medium-rare, and it was probably medium-well. The taste screamed, "I was ordered from a generic food-supply company." I really regret eating it.

My lunch companions had similarly-mixed experiences. One reported that a surprisingly good avocado was paired with disgusting meat. The other was pleased at the presence of a gluten-free menu, but frustrated that almost everything on the menu was steak. There were other items on the regular menu that appeared likely to be gluten-free, but perhaps the restaurant didn't want to update its gluten-free menu with all of the "new" items on the menu. It certainly was a confusing menu.

Convenient parking for Bowie's Finest.

So, as with the other casual dining chains, I don't see any reason to go there, but if you do go there, you will probably have an OK experience. If someone invites you there, it's probably OK to go...though maybe not late at night.

Most places have reserved spaces out front for take-out orders. The Bowie T.G.I. Friday's has two spaces for cop cars. That's not a good sign. Neither is the fatal shooting last year in the parking lot. You should be fine in the daytime, but it's probably not the best late-night haunt.

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Bowie Restaurant News

With the opening of Freestyle Fish 'n' Chicken in January, for the first time since I started this Project, there were no more "coming soon" restaurants. That has since changed. We're now anticipating three new restaurants!

1. Irie Cafe Jamaican Grille will be opening in Hilltop Plaza, next to Chesapeake Grille (in the location that the Muffin Man Caribbean Cafe never occupied).
2. Hibachi Bowl is replacing Hibachi Japan in the Bowie Town Center food court.
3. "Anthony's New York Pizza and Pas"(ta?) is now listed as a tenant in the Free State Shopping Center at the old Peepers address.

Foursquare: Come for the Games, Stay for the Memories

Today is Foursquare Day, which seemed to be a good time to take a look at how Foursquare has changed recently, and how that's affected my use of it.

Recently, Foursquare has explained that the "game" aspect of the service had been too prominent, and what they really wanted to emphasize was "search" -- helping users discover interesting places to go.

Given that I originally got interested in Foursquare as a game, this is not a good development. Particularly since it has never been a great game. The points system has never been that interesting. The mayorships, while interesting, are too open to cheating. The badges have probably been my favorite part of the game. Now that the mayorships and badges no longer post to Twitter and Foursquare, even that is less exciting -- bragging about "accomplishments" has always been part of the appeal. The only people who will see that I got the "Zoetrope" badge are those who happen to look on Foursquare.

And there are fewer of those friends. I have 12 friends on Foursquare. Two have never checked in. Three last checked in during 2010. Of the remaining seven, only three have checked in this year.

I use the "Explore" feature some -- mainly because I hope they have slightly better data on what places people actually go to than something like Google Maps does. I don't know that it's compelling enough for me to continue checking in, particularly since I can "Explore" without doing so. (I don't think the data about where I have checked in will be all that useful for making recommendations.)

So why do I still check in every day? Well, as I previously described, I am very much interesting in collecting data that I can use to jog my memory and answer the question of what I was doing on a particular date. I still use Timehop to discover what I was doing a year ago today (and I still wish it told me what I was doing two and three years ago.)

This came together in an amazing way just over a week ago. I was reminded of a year-ago series of checkins including a toy store and a JC Penney. That brought back memories of foam swords we had bought the boys, pushing the stroller around JC Penney in a desperate attempt to calm them down, and discovering that one of the two swords had gone missing. (The toy store had sold out of them by the time we went back and said they weren't getting any back in stock.) Since we can't have just one of any toy if we expect to keep the peace (and since I found it too depressing just to throw it away), the sword lived in my car for a year.

I reflected on that to start the day, then Christina and I had our first real date of the year -- the kind of day that I'll really enjoy looking back upon in 2014. Since the babysitter was engaged for a fixed period of time, we had half an hour to kill at the end of the date. Of all places, we ended up in Walgreen's. We walked in, and there was a display with the exact type of sword that had gone missing a year ago. Weird.

Anyway, my quest for "gamification" of daily life has moved beyond Foursquare -- mostly to Untappd, a beer check-in service. But I'm still enjoying Foursquare, almost entirely as a way of capturing the aspect of my history, "Where was I on such-and-such a date?"

Bowie Restaurant Project: (65) Chili's

For an explanation of the Bowie Restaurant Project, look here.


For a list of all the Bowie Restaurant Project reviews, look here.

Chili's, 16401 Heritage Blvd.
Most Recent Foursquare Check-in: 4/4/2013
Total Foursquare Check-ins: 1
Pre-Foursquare Visits: No
Rating: 2.5 out of 5 stars

It's a Chili's. Right? We're at Chili's, aren't we, not Applebee's or Ruby Tuesday's or whatever? Nope, definitely a Chili's.

One reason that I know that I've been to a Chili's before -- and can thus dispense with a second visit, according to my review rules -- is that I know there is one in the hotel that the Euroquest gaming convention used to be held in. One time, on a break from gaming, Martin and I were approached by the waitress who asked if we were familiar with their menu. Martin assured her that he came there all the time. After she left, I expressed surprise at this response and he said something like, "I don't know that I've ever been to Chili's in my life; I just didn't want to hear whatever she wanted to tell us."

Although the service this time was not particular enthusiastic, I saw more instances of where Chili's was more interested in a relationship with me than vice versa. For example, signs and notes on the menu reminded me to download their app, where, among other things, I could request songs on the jukebox without actually getting up and walking over there.

A bad cell phone picture of the "Ziosk"

The one thing of some mild interest was the "Ziosk", a console that took up a large percentage of the real estate on our surprisingly small table. Most of its offerings were duds -- advertisements for specials, or offers to pay $1.99 to play games I could probably find on my phone for free. There was a chance to re-order drinks. When our waitress had disappeared for a while (as I said, the service was not the best), I tried to use it to summon water, but was told we had not ordered drinks. I assume it only works on booze.

The Ziosk did shine in one area. It lets you pay your bill, which may have helped us recover some of the ten minutes we waited for someone to show up and seat us at the beginning of the meal. In particular, we were able to split the check and each pay via credit card. It's always very annoying to split a small check between two or more people -- and I probably would not have done so via credit card if not for the Ziosk. And I was able to get the receipt via e-mail, so there's that.

What about the food. It was adequate. I got the chili, which was comparable to Wendy's, and the fajitas, which were fine. My colleague got the "Southwestern Mac 'n' Cheese with Grilled Chicken," which was also fine. Both it and the fajitas were presented on a little skillet, which was reasonable.

So it ends up with the ever popular 2.5-star rating (awarded in 7 of my most recent 11 reviews). It might sink to 2 stars without the Ziosk, which solves the hypothetical-yet-plausible scenario of, "I'm going out to lunch with a bunch of people and it's going to be a pain to split the check."

Movie Review: Looper

Looking back, I used to review a lot of movies on this blog. At least six in 2000, four in 2001... But it looks like the last review I published was in 2005 for Kung Fu Hustle, a movie I didn't even remember seeing. Well, there's a reason I write reviews, so I'll be able to remind myself of things I don't remember seeing.

Anyway, I decided I wanted to vote on the Hugos for the Best Novel category, but that also makes me eligible to vote for all the other categories, and I feel like I should make some effort in at least some of those categories. So the nomination of Looper motivated me to look for the copy we've had from Netflix for over a month. After Christina found it, we watched it last night.

My verdict: not bad, but not something I want to give an award to. One weakness was that things happened in the movie that seemed solely done for plot convenience. I mean, time travel is always a little bit ridiculous, but even after being invented and then outlawed, its main use is disposing of people the mob wants killed? Really? And why does "Old Joe" fight so much better than "Young Joe"? It's because Bruce Willis was in Die Hard and Joseph Gordon-Levitt was in 3rd Rock from the Sun, isn't it?

The characters, while not really ones I could relate to, do experience some interesting moral dilemmas. The implications of time-travel paradoxes are somewhat interesting, but nothing really mind-blowing like a good time-travel story. I mean, really, this movie didn't hold a candle to The Time Traveler's Wife.

I think I liked it better than The Avengers, the only other of this year's nominees I've seen. On the other hand, I watched that movie in a very distracted fashion, and it's gotten so many good reviews, maybe I will try to catch it again when it is available on Netflix streaming. But the "No Award" option on the ballot is starting to look good.

The Hugo Nominees

The Hugo nominees have been announced!

First of all, nothing that I nominated made the finalists. (Although I nominated Game of Thrones in long-form dramatic presentation, and an episode made it through in short-form.) Oh, well.

The category that I am most interested in, Best Novel, had a two-novel overlap with the Nebula nominees: 2312 and Throne of the Crescent Moon.

So what do I read next? Well, my first thought is to pivot from the Hugos to the Nebulas, so that I can read those nominees and make up my own mind before the Nebula winner is announced in mid-May. Because the Hugo nominees are traditionally provided at no additional cost to Hugo voters, that means postponing Throne of the Crescent Moon until the "Hugo packet" becomes available. I am a little bit sad about that, since I picked that book as the Nebula nominee I'd most like to read. Among other things, Saladin Ahmed, the author, is a Michigan alumnus and father of twins -- like me. Also, he is an Arab-American who has written poetry -- like my wife. So I guess I should mostly be glad he got the nomination, but I am looking forward to reading this. (Also, his Twitter avatar is the Rakshasa from the original Monster Manual.)

That leaves Ironskin, The Killing Moon, The Drowning Girl and Glamour in Glass as the other four Nebula nominees. From an Amazon review of Ironskin: "this book is a fey/steampunk retelling of Jane Eyre." My heart sinks every time I see that, so I will probably move that low on the priority list. The Killing Moon looks like a fantasy novel with some war, magic and mysticism. It's promising. The Drowning Girl is described in an Amazon review as "a haunting, dreamlike novel awash in mermaids, werewolves, fairy tales, art and schizophrenia." I would color myself somewhat suspicious, so let's put that in between the other two on the priority list. Finally, Glamour in Glass is the second novel in a series that seems to be described as Jane Austen with magic. I prefer something done as a tribute to a particular author rather than a retelling of a particular story, and I like magic better than "fey/steampunk", so it definitely goes above Ironskin,
and probably The Drowning Girl.

The only problem with Glamour in Glass is that I have a rule not to read series out of sequence. This rule dates back to my childhood days reading The Hardy Boys novels, so it is completely ridiculous, but so ingrained that I find it impossible to break. The previous book in the series is Shades of Milk and Honey, a 2010 Nebula nominee. It was not one of the three nominees I managed to read that year, but I find that somewhat encouraging. Still, I am developing a long list of books to read in the first part of the year (see below).

Assuming I get those four (well, five, with Shades) books read before the Hugo packet comes out, what next? Well, here's where my book series rule (I should develop a catchy name for it) comes into play. One of the Hugo nominees is Blackout, the third book in a zombie trilogy. I don't really like zombie books or movies, but I should give this one a shot, which adds the first two books in the series.

Another nominee is Captain Vorpatril's Alliance, the latest entry in the Vorkosigan Saga. Let's look at how many entries there are...twenty-two? (Spit take.) Well, it's not as bad as all that. The list contains two short stories and four novellas. I don't feel compelled to track those down, and even if I did, they're shorter. So that's...fifteen prequels. But wait! I actually read Falling Free, the first novel (according to the saga's internal chronology) and a previous Nebula winner. It's not tightly related to the rest of the saga, so I could have probably justified skipping it, but now I don't have to. Fourteen! And one novel takes place after Captain Vorpatril's Alliance (the author suggests reading the novels in chronological order rather than publication order), so I'm down to thirteen.

Thankfully, it gets better. Some of the books are collected in "omnibus" editions. Even if that doesn't make the combined books any shorter, 1) it cuts down on the number of books I have to buy, and 2) the original novels couldn't have been that long, if they've been combined with other novels. That gives me:

1. Cordelia's Honor
2. Young Miles
3. Miles, Mystery, and Mayhem
4. Miles Errant
5. Memory
6. Miles in Love
7. Miles, Mutants and Microbes  

After all that, seven books doesn't seem so bad, does it? The remaining Hugo nominee is Redshirts, so that goes on the list, too.

Summarizing, we have, approximately in order:

1. The Killing Moon (Nebula nominee)
2. Shades of Milk and Honey (in series with Nebula nominee)
3. Glamour in Glass (Nebula nominee)
4. The Drowning Girl (Nebula nominee)
5. Ironskin (Nebula nominee)
6. Cordelia's Honor (in series with Hugo nominee)
7. Young Miles (in series with Hugo nominee)
8. Miles, Mystery, and Mayhem (in series with Hugo nominee)
9. Miles Errant (in series with Hugo nominee)
10. Memory (in series with Hugo nominee)
11. Miles in Love (in series with Hugo nominee)
12. Miles, Mutants and Microbes (in series with Hugo nominee)
13. Feed (in series with Hugo nominee)
14. Deadline (in series with Hugo nominee)
15. Throne of the Crescent Moon (Nebula and Hugo nominee) 
16. Captain Vorpatril's Alliance (Hugo nominee) 
17. Blackout (Hugo nominee)
18. Redshirts (Hugo nominee)  

So, let's see, 18 books in four months (some of them containing multiple novels), for someone who has been struggling to average two books a month. Let me consider this list an unrealistic goal rather than a "to-do list". Also, time to start reading The Killing Moon! Updates to follow...

Book Review: Seraphina

Seraphina by Rachel Hartman

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


First of all, I first saw this book on Locus' 2012 Recommended Reading List, where I first heard of The Last Policeman, so that makes me think that list is a pretty good resource. (Then again, I also got the idea to read Angelmaker there, and I abandoned it a few pages in, so it's not a perfect list.)

Anyway, Seraphina is a the story of a sixteen-year-old court musician who is a half-dragon. Dragons can take human form, which leads to much suspicion, but almost nobody believes that half-dragons are possible, so Seraphina has to hide her true nature. The book takes place in the aftermath of the murder of a prince and on the eve of the 40th-anniversary celebrations of a peace treaty between humans and dragons.

It's a "young adult" book, but after much thought, I've decided that the idea of "young adult" as a classification is misguided. I understand that certain books like Have Space Suit—Will Travel are particularly attractive to a teenage reader, and that maybe you'll be able to relate better to Seraphina if you're a teenage girl (even more if you're half-dragon!). I don't think, however, that libraries or bookstores should have separate sections for "fantasy" and "young adult fantasy". I think separate sections for "this book has dragons in it" and "sorry, this book doesn't have any dragons" would make at least as much sense. I guess what I'm saying is go ahead and read this book if you're an adult, but you could recommend it to a teenager, too. If it matters, it's probably PG; then again, most teenagers would probably prefer the R-rated books.

I've seen reviews which mention that the idea of dragons taking human form is what makes the book so wonderful. I don't think the idea is new here. I'm sure I saw it in D&D 30 years ago, which means it was borrowed from some other place. The author does a great job, however, at addressing the implications of what it means to be one species in the body of another. The dragons are one part of a very richly-drawn setting that is the books strength.

The characters are also interesting. Seraphina's status as between two cultures will resonate with anyone who has struggled with feelings of not belonging -- which I believe will help the book's "young adult" plea. The plot is interesting, but not the reason this book deserves five stars.

I only regret not reading this book before the Hugo nominations closed.

A Pie of Cheese and Onion

I've been trying to put fun things on my "to do" list, along with chores. One theme that dominates this part of the list is that I want to make sure I actually enjoy my Christmas and birthday presents, rather than saying, "This looks fun," and then setting them aside with the feeling that I won't have time to use them.

One such present was A Feast of Ice and Fire: The Official Game of Thrones Companion Cookbook. It's a collection of recipes that you might find in Westeros. As far as I can tell, the methodology is to find offhand reference to some dish in the books, then use medieval sources to create a recipe, along with a possible modern variation.

The recipe I chose to make was the modern version of a cheese and onion pie (served at a wedding in King's Landing in the third book, and I suspect the fourth season of the TV show). The dough, though, was a medieval-style recipe. I think the saffron and egg yolks gave it an interesting flavor.

The filling turned out really well. I think the main change I might make would be to cut back on the amount of potato and onion -- they provide the bulk of dish, and I had to use a bigger pan than expected due to the amount of filling. Christina thought I should cut back on the cayenne pepper and consider including some meat.

The crust suffered a little bit in presentation due to my inexperience -- it has been more than 15 years since my one previous attempt to bake a pie crust. It was still tasty, but I can probably learn a few things before my next attempt.

There's a recipe for fish tarts that looks interesting. I think if I blend the medieval and modern recipes, I could end up with something a lot like a salmon & cream cheese bagel.  Maybe that'll be my next project.

PS Jack seemed to like the pie, but Salem did not.

Bowie Restaurant Project: (64) Outback Steakhouse

For an explanation of the Bowie Restaurant Project, look here.



For a list of all the Bowie Restaurant Project reviews, look here.

Outback Steakhouse, 6800 Race Track Road
Most Recent Foursquare Check-in: 3/17/2013
Total Foursquare Check-ins: 1
Pre-Foursquare Visits: No
Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

Let's get a few things out of the way. First of all, a couple of years ago, the Bowie Outback moved from one part of Hilltop Plaza to another. As far as I can tell, they did so to be more visible from the road, which is kind of a lame reason. The move helped mess up parking, and left a vacant building at their old location. So jeers to them for that, though I won't downgrade their rating for it. They ended up with some nice decor, though I think they could have done that with a nice renovation.

Second, I know it's a chain. I know it's a totally fake version of Australia -- I wish I could eat at Ned Kelly's Retreat instead. Still, Outback is a guilty pleasure, and one of the more promising chain restaurants in Bowie.

Since Outback is not open for weekday lunch, one of my usual strategies for planning a Bowie Restaurant Project visit -- taking along a co-worker -- wouldn't work. It's also a bit pricey, so it called for a bit of a special occasion. My birthday did the trick, but the visit kept being postponed due to illness, and once due to a potential 30-minute wait with hungry and impatient toddlers.

This time, I called ahead to find out that there was no wait. By the time we got there, a 10-minute wait had developed. That wasn't a huge problem, but we had to repeatedly decline offers of being seated in a booth after we had told them we wanted a table. That mild annoyance may have been indicative of staff turnover, because a couple of times I saw confusion about basic restaurant operation.

The food itself, however, was excellent, and the service was attentive. Christina remarked, and I agree, that the food is better than at the Hyattsville location near our old house. I got what I almost always get at Outback -- a steak, medium-rare, with mushrooms on the side. I got one of the larger sizes, intending to save it for a meal the next day -- but I ended up finishing the whole thing.

I wasn't the only one who overindulged. Salem, who proclaimed, "That was a good restaurant," as he was being buckled into the car, was up for at least an hour that night with indigestion. I can't blame that on the restaurant, rather a two-and-half year-old who doesn't know when to stop eating.

So, three stars. I think if I were planning to eat steak and weren't looking to round out my reviewing, I'd probably opt for the Old Bowie Town Grille or Rip's instead. If, however, I were dining with someone who wanted the familiarity of a chain, or I didn't want to go more than a mile and a half from my house, Outback is a fine choice.

Book Review: The Long Earth

The Long Earth by Terry Pratchett and Stephen Baxter

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


When I was younger, I used to read settings for role-playing campaigns that I knew I'd never have time to use. I always sort of wondered why I was doing that. Reading The Long Earth helped me understand -- some writers are far better at setting than they are at other elements -- say dialogue or characterization.

The basic idea of the "Long Earth" is fascinating -- an array of alternate Earths, each an easy "step" away once someone discovers the method. The Earths are mostly uninhabited, which raises a series of interesting economic and political questions. The possibilities are explored in interesting ways. The setting is enough to earn the book its three stars.

Beyond that, I have a lot of problems with the book. The main two characters in the book (one of them an AI) speak to each other in ways that sound like a 14-year-old nerd's idea of witty banter. E.g., "Although these worlds are full of elephant types. A plethora of pachyderms." There's a third character who arrives later in the book who I like better, which gives me hope for the sequel.

I would also like to coin the term "Stark Industries Syndrome" for any sci-fi book where the narrative relies on a corporation run by an eccentric billionaire who seems more interested in science and technology than on making money. (To be clear, I have no problem with Stark Industries itself, thus illustrating a difference in what I think is proper in a comic book versus a novel.) That leads to lines like, "Now when you are dealing with the Black Corporation, funds are essentially without limit." Really? I don't think that's true for Apple, Google, or Exxon -- how much bigger of a corporation is this entity supposed to be. Or, "The ultimate "black box", you might say, is in the belly of the ship, armoured in an alloy that I confidently believe makes adamantium look like putty..." Nothing about this alternative-Earth scenario makes me believe any such thing should be remotely possible, especially developed in secret for a company which doesn't immediately try to monetize the invention.

I was initially hoping for something like what I hoped Charles Stross' The Family Trade was going to be before things went off the rails in later sequels. I'm not going to get that, but I'm probably going to read the sequel and hope the setting keeps me from banging my head against my Kindle when I read some of the dialogue.

I had initially checked this out because it was on somebody's list of "maybe nominate these novels for the Hugo." I was still reading it when the nomination deadline came around, but did not rush to finish it because I knew I wasn't putting it on my ballot. I hope it doesn't get nominated, but then again I know Pratchett has a lot of fans.

Project Bike To Work: Daylight Savings

I decided that the first Wednesday after Daylight Savings was a good day for my first bike ride to work of the year. On Thursday, I got an e-mail about my activity a year ago (the first Wednesday after Daylight Savings), indicating that it was my first bike ride to work of the year. So I guess it's a tradition!

I have had a somewhat sedentary winter, and my goal is to turn it around, in part, by biking to work at least once a week. I understand that a weekly 8-mile round trip will not, in and of itself, burn a ton of calories. But I'm hoping it will inspire me to take the bike out some more -- figure out how to attach the trailer we bought around the time the kids were born, for example.

Also, at some point I decided that diet soda wasn't any better for me than regular soda. Unfortunately, I took this to mean, I might as well drink regular soda instead of Pepsi One or whatever. But I have found that when I ride my bike regularly, I don't really want to grab a Big Gulp and undo many of the positives.

Before I set out Wednesday morning, I weighed myself -- 217 pounds. I really should be under 200, something that hasn't been true since the 1990s. I figure if I have monthly posts noting how I'm doing on biking to work and on my weight, it'll help keep me to my exercise plan. From June 2006 to August 2009, I tracked my weight on a spreadsheet. Until June 2009, it was almost always above 217, so I guess things haven't gotten worse for me in the past 4 years.

Anyway, if I am going to bike to work more, I should try to make good time. Google Maps says it should take me 22 minutes to get there, and 23 minutes on the way home. I did not properly time myself, but I think I was more like 25/30. That should come closer to the ideal times once I'm in better shape. And that's only 10 extra minutes each way over driving, which seems a reasonable compromise.

Hugo Nominations

Well, that's it. I'm not cut out to be a Hugo nominator. Given 16 categories (17 if you count the Campbell award, which is not technically a Hugo), I nominated works in only 4 of them -- one work in each. Basically, I don't have the time, energy or cash to read anywhere near a large portion of the sf/fantasy works published in the previous year in order to determine what I think is the best of the year.

Instead, however, I look at my input as something akin to voting for an All-Star game in professional sports. Yeah, it's cheesy to fill out the entire ballot with your favorite players, no matter how good they are. But it's OK to make sure that you vote for a couple of candidates who you want to make sure get their due.

So I've settled on this approach: make sure to read eligible works by my favorite authors, if possible. Look around for anything else promising, especially if I can it for free on-line, or through my library as an e-book. Then, nominate with a critical eye -- I may really like an author, but if his or her effort is unlikely one of the best five works of the year, I'm not going to put it on the ballot.

What I'm really looking forward to is the voting -- first of all, I think of my primary benefit from the process as the selection done by people who are more heavily invested in the genre. Secondly, the Hugo votes traditionally get the nominated works in electronic form, and that's a tremendous value. So in a month I should have the list of works, and maybe a month beyond that, the "voter packet."

Oh...which four works did I end up nominating?

• Best Novel: The Last Policeman, Ben H. Winters
• Best Short Story: A Tall Tail, Charles Stross
• Best Related Work: A Feast of Ice and Fire: The Official Game of Thrones Companion Cookbook, Chelsea Monroe-Cassel and Sariann Lehrer
• Best Dramatic Presentation, Long Form: Game of Thrones, Season 2, HBO

Melford Testimony

This Bowie Patch article is about the Bowie City Council approving amendments that would allow residential development at Melford, the office park at which I work. I spoke during the public comment section preceding the vote. I didn't think it would do much good to tell the Council my opinion on whether the development is a good idea -- for one thing, they seemed to have their minds made up. For another, as left-wing as I am about some things, I think that businesses have the right to try out their own business plans without the government having to figure out whether they're going to succeed. So I focused on the impact on the City of Bowie, and I chose to highlight one particular impact. From the article:

Jon Grantham, who works in the Melford office park, moved to Bowie so he could be closer to work and appreciates the idea of people wanting to be close to their jobs. Grantham said he sometimes bikes the four miles to work at Melford and that currently, the property is not very pedestrian or bike friendly.

“When you get to the end of Belair Drive and you enter Melford Drive it becomes, and there’s no better word for it, scary,” Grantham said, citing a lack of side paths and sidewalks.

The development, said Grantham, is currently so automobile focused, he’s concerned it could never be pedestrian friendly. He suggested the city make connecting bike paths and trails connecting Melford to the rest of Bowie mandatory in the development to increase connectivity and pedestrian safety. The connections Grantham mentioned are suggested in the city’s Trails Master Plan, adopted in 2002.

I didn't think I actually gave the impression that it could never be pedestrian-friendly, but I guess I do have that skepticism, so maybe it came across. I mean, the closest restaurants by walking distance (other than the on-site cafe) are 2.6 miles away, according to Google Maps. I'm sure the developer would love if residents could only walk to on-site dining options, but the glaring visibility of that fact would probably keep some number of residents away.

Anyway, here are my remarks, as prepared. I deviated significantly from them in places, not always to great effect.

Greetings, Councilmembers and Mayor Robinson. Thank you for the opportunity to speak to you today.

My name is Jon Grantham. I first worked in what is now known as Melford in the summer of 1989, and I have worked there full-time since 1997. I am not speaking on behalf of my employer, rather for myself and for my family.

We bought a house in Bowie in large part to be closer to my work so I could spend more time with our twins. I sometimes make the 4-mile commute on my bicycle -- once I even walked it. The first three miles are very pleasant. Levitt really knew how design an attractive community. Where Belair Drive ends and Melford Drive begins, however, it becomes -- there’s no better word for it -- scary. There are no sidewalks or side paths, and bicyclists and pedestrians are forced to merge with traffic which has just exited major highways.

I do not understand how St. John Properties proposes to build and market a pedestrian-friendly and environmentally responsible community in a part of Bowie so dependent on automobile traffic, and which is so cut off from the rest of the City.

The City’s 2002 Trails Master Plan shows proposed trails connecting Melford to the rest of Bowie. The trail along Melford Drive is the most direct link, but the ones along Crain Highway would connect the proposed community to Whitemarsh Park to the north and retail to the south.

I believe that unless the City explicitly makes this connection a requirement of approving a site plan, all the talk of green development will be just a joke. Please only approve these amendments if you intend to make sure this development is compatible with the rest of Bowie and its green principles. That means a development with bike and pedestrian trails that connect to the rest of Bowie.

Book Review: Windhaven

Windhaven by George R.R. Martin and Lisa Tuttle

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


This thirty-year-old book is essentially a collection of three novellas, the first of which, "The Storms of Windhaven", was nominated for both the Hugo and Nebula awards thirty-five years ago. Although the same main character (and many supporting characters) appear throughout all three parts, they really feel like distinct works.

The setting is a planet where a spaceship crashed hundreds of years ago. The inhabitants have lost much of the technology, but cannibalized the starship to make wings for messengers to travel between the planet's many islands. The gravity and climate of the planet make this possible, and other things make sea travel difficult because...well, because it's a cool idea, and that's what the authors needed to make the plot work.

The first novella seems very uplifting and optimistic, to the point where you want to check the cover to make sure it really is co-authored by George R.R. Martin. The rest of the book introduces more moral ambiguities, but the novel never comes anywhere near the level of sex and violence (or sexual violence) people have come to expect in his most famous work.

The book has held up well over the years. It doesn't feel dated at all. While I have no specific complaints about it, neither did I find it a compelling page-turner. Its unusual setting is probably the star of the book -- sort of like Lord Valentine's Castle. But unlike that work, Windhaven ranks as "kinda neat" rather than "fascinating" on the table of sci-fi planets with a fantasy feel.